When was the last time you truly felt alive? If you are going about your work and personal life without a passion, your day-to-day can be a struggle.
“My goal is to get people back to that feeling, back to the person who is excited to get up in the morning and is connected to the things that make them feel most alive in the work that they do and the people they surround themselves with, and in the things they love to do outside of work,” says Ben Nemtin, New York Times best-selling author of What Do You Want to Do Before You Die? and The Bucket List Journal. “Ultimately, that’s what’s going to make them most effective in the work they do as a landscape professional.”
Nemtin will share how embracing your professional and personal purpose unleashes untapped potential during his Closing Main Stage session, “Powered By Purpose,” on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 10 a.m. at ELEVATE.
“It turns out 76% of people on their deathbed, they have the same regret, and it’s the number one regret that people have,” Nemtin says. “I’m going to define what that regret is, and I’m also going to help the audience avoid that regret by implementing some of the steps that I talk about in my keynote.”
Misconceptions About Purpose
It’s commonly assumed that people have one purpose, but Nemtin argues that people have many different purposes and they change over time as well.
“When we think about purpose, what we’re really thinking about are the things that make us feel more alive, the things that make us feel more like ourselves, things that make us feel that give us energy, the things that make us feel fulfilled,” Nemtin says. “Those can come in many shapes and sizes, and they can be many different things, and we don’t know what a lot of those things are until we try them.”
Nemtin says the definition of happiness is the feeling you have when you’re moving toward your potential. It is your pursuit of your ideal self that brings a sense of happiness.
Unlocking Your Purpose
Purpose-driven individuals and teams are seven times more likely to overcome challenges because they understand the ‘why’ behind their actions.
“They’re happier and happier team members do better work,” Nemtin says. “It also creates a culture where people can feel like they can be their true self and their authentic self, and then they unlock the gifts that only they have in their potential, and so that’s something that is truly powerful.”
Nemtin says one way that landscape professionals can discover their professional purpose is to stay close to the human impact of the work they do.
“The work that you do as landscape professionals is really to make people’s dreams come true by building an environment that enables them to be their best selves or to bring a sense of happiness or a sense of calm,” Nemtin says. “That’s the end result. But the problem is that the day-to-day has a way of disconnecting you from that final impact because you’re not with all of those people once you leave.”
Nemtin recommends considering the ripple effect your work has on others to help you stay connected to your purpose.
Meanwhile, your personal purpose is anything that you place on your bucket list.
“Your list is just a list of all things that bring you a sense of purpose,” Nemtin says. “The first step is to stop and think about what those things are in all 10 categories of your life, which I’ll talk about, and then start to take action by writing them down and taking very small steps towards them.”
Achieving the Impossible
Nemtin created his own bucket list after his depression caused him to drop out of college. He says while his struggle with depression isn’t unique, he has been vocal about his journey to empower others to share their own struggles with mental health.
“Ultimately, when you talk about your struggles, they have less of a grip on you,” Nemtin says. “They become less powerful, and you also enable other people to help you when you share.”
He says that instead of trying to hide from what he thought was a weakness, he found he had the power to help other people by sharing his story.
It was in his attempt to feel alive again that Nemtin created the world’s greatest bucket list with his three friends.
From playing basketball with President Obama to having a beer with Prince Harry, Nemtin has achieved 96 of the 100 dreams on his list so far. He and his friends also decided that every time they crossed something off their bucket list, they’d help a stranger accomplish one of their dreams as well.
While many of these dreams may seem far-fetched, Nemtin will provide attendees with a framework on how to achieve goals that feel overwhelming or daunting.
Creating Work/Life Harmony
Nemtin says there’s a difference between work/life balance and work/life harmony. He says with work/life harmony, you are able to gain energy from the work you do as well as your personal life.
This is achieved by tapping into your professional and personal purpose so you can become the best, most impactful version of yourself.
If you are taking the time to fill your own cup, but it still feels like you are walking through mud, Nemtin recommends reflecting on what can spark a fire or passion in the work you’re doing.
“Is there something I can take ownership of and try something different that I might be more excited about?” Nemtin says. “Force yourself to evolve or change and ultimately grow, which is uncomfortable. But how? Maybe it’s the people that you’re working with, as in your team, or maybe it’s your clients that you’re working with.”
Nemtin says you should check in regularly to see if your professional and personal purposes are fueling you in some way. If they have lost their energizing effect have become more of a drain, these purposes can lead to burnout.
“The key is that you stop and reflect,” Nemtin says. “That’s something we don’t do. We get caught up in the day-to-day. We’re running, but we’re not necessarily looking far ahead to where we’re running towards. We get there, and we’re confused why we’re not happy.”
Nemtin reiterates that it is the movement toward your potential that creates happiness.
“There’s no sort of big pot of happiness at the end of the rainbow,” Nemtin says. “It’s in the climb, it’s in the pursuit, it’s the growth.”
Ready to unlock your purpose as well as your team members’? Register for ELEVATE and we’ll see you in Phoenix, Arizona!
